


out of the black and into the blue

by girlsonthetv



Series: akechi lives and is dating ryuji for some reason [4]
Category: Persona 5
Genre: Domestic Bliss, Fluff, M/M, Self-Improvement, shukita is mentioned
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-19
Updated: 2017-08-19
Packaged: 2018-12-17 10:28:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,523
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11849685
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/girlsonthetv/pseuds/girlsonthetv
Summary: Goro and Ryuji live together in their own apartment. It's good in a way neither of them thought they would ever get to experience.





	out of the black and into the blue

Goro woke up having lost all feeling in his arm. He yawned and smiled sleepily at Ryuji, who was a sleep-cuddler of the highest order, and gently extracted himself from his grip. Ryuji frowned and mumbled in his sleep, but a pillow eased into his arms seemed to pacify him. Goro smiled fondly and slid out from under the thick blankets still on their bed even though the weather was heating up. They simply turned the fan on high. 

They had been living together in a one room apartment for a few months now. It looked a little like an Animal Crossing house near the beginning of the game, sparsely and eclectically furnished with whatever was on sale. They had gone to Ikea together to pick out things for the apartment, and they nearly got kicked out because Ryuji insisted on trying their bed before they bought it. It was incredibly romantic. 

It wasn't luxury by any means, but Goro still reveled in being able to go to sleep for several hours and wake up without a hideous crick in his neck. The "kitchen" consisted of appliances in a corner, plus some cabinets and a table to eat at, as well as put their coffee maker and microwave on. 

Goro padded over to the kitchen and went through the motions of fixing two cups of coffee; one for him and one for Ryuji, making sure to douse Ryuji's in cream and sugar to extinguish any and all bitterness. His eating habits hadn't really changed since he died; he didn't eat things for flavor, he ate things so he could have something to talk about with other socialites. He started drinking coffee to get closer to the beautiful and intriguing boy who hung out around Leblanc. He still drank it because it woke him up, and it reminded him of quieter and simpler times.

Light poured in through the window and pooled on the table as Goro sipped his coffee. White noise of cars and music and people talking outside gradually increased in volume as the city woke up. Goro's phone blared where it rested on the windowsill, plugged in, but he made no move to get it. This was part of one of his rules. 

His rules were secret to everyone except him, and there were only three. No phone for at least an hour after waking up and meditating. Always take prescriptions at night. Allow himself to be loved. He had put them in place for himself the day after him and Ryuji moved into their very own apartment in order to attempt to be a better person. His meditating wasn't elaborate and it didn't take a very long time. It was simply ten minutes, while breathing deeply, that he set aside to be alone with his thoughts, negative and positive. He rebuked negative thoughts, of which there were many, with things he knew to be true. 

[You don't deserve this. / I do, because every human being deserves to have a proper living space. That's a basic human right. 

You aren't doing anything with your life. / I'm writing a detective novel and I'm contributing to society by working as a waiter. And I'm working with therapists at my internship to help people with illnesses like mine.

Ryuji doesn't really love you, he only pities you. / He's terrible at hiding his emotions, so if this was really the case, I would definitely know. 

Ryuji deserves someone better than you. / I'm going to become someone better than my past self, because I love him.]

Goro sighed, satisfied, when the overwhelming tidal wave of negativity in his brain slowed. He drained the last of his coffee. "Penny for your thoughts, babe?" Ryuji said from behind him, having apparently woken up while Goro was staring off into space draining bean juice. 

Goro startled, putting a hand on his chest exaggeratedly. "You scared me." He got up and began to rinse out his coffee mug as Ryuji drained his in a few swift gulps before turning on the stove and getting out ingredients to fix eggs and bacon. Goro hummed and watched Ryuji cook, Ryuji's brow furrowed in concentration. He had never cracked a trendy cookbook in his life, but he had cooked for his mom for years, and these days he did the cooking for him and Goro's little household. 

Goro pulled him in for a kiss once breakfast was finished and safely plated. Ryuji wasn't wearing a shirt, he never slept in a shirt, and Goro stroked down the plane of his abs, maybe less defined than they were when they were sixteen, but no less enticing. 

"I don't have much to do other than go for a run," Ryuji said, warm air puffing over Goro's face. "but didn't you want to work on your manuscript today after that?" 

Goro huffed playfully. "You're no fun." 

"And we have to get groceries." Ryuji reminded him as they changed into exercising clothes before heading outside. It was a beautiful sunny Sunday, and they ran together like they had done every day since they had called the apartment home. The sun and the cold morning air peeled away Goro's sleep fog and rendered him alert and awake. His partner alongside him rendered him deliriously happy.

/

They woke up the next day and got ready for work together in a drowsy haze, kissing for the first time that day the minute they had both brushed their teeth. They kissed with the frequency and intensity of teenagers, and the other former Phantom Thieves loved to tease them about it. Yusuke and Akira in particular loved to rag on them about their PDA like they were any better. He smiled as he remembered the party Akira had organized and Haru had hosted at her café to celebrate him cheating death. 

They walked to the subway station together and got on their separate trains - Ryuji bound for the physical therapy office where he had recently gotten a job, and Goro for the restaurant where he waited tables. He checked his foundation job in the window as the door closed - his scars had faded quite a bit, but he couldn't go barefaced to his job quite yet. 

His shift was long and agonizing, and he moaned about it to Ryuji as soon as he caught sight of his face coming around the corner to meet him outside the train station. Ryuji knew him well enough by now that he let him rant, murmuring sympathetically on occasion. He stopped at a grocery store on the way home to pick up "something" that turned out to be a bottle of wine. Goro clapped like a child. They kissed as soon as they got in the doorway of their apartment. 

"How about we order dinner, and I'll clean the bathroom tonight?" Ryuji murmured. 

"I love you so fucking much." Goro muttered into Ryuji's sweater. 

"Is that a yes?" Ryuji laughed. 

Goro nodded. "You want a pizza?" 

Goro ordered a large pizza with half pineapple, as went their typical pizza order, and Goro picked a sluggish delivery place so by the time it got there Ryuji had finished cleaning. They ate room-temperature pizza on the couch watching the sequel to the movie Ann had starred in. Ann was also in this one, and they both agreed her acting was much better. Goro finished his second glass of wine and felt a lump in his throat as he snuggled up to Ryuji. "Can I tell you a secret?" 

"Sure." Ryuji sipped his only glass of wine. He couldn't hold his drink for the life of him.

"Sometimes I'm scared of falling asleep." Goro whispered. He couldn't look Ryuji in the eyes, so he stared at the floor. "Because I worry that when I wake up, this will all have been an elaborate purgatory fever dream and I'm actually dead in the Metaverse, or alive and still working for Shido." Ryuji flinched, and Goro felt bad but continued. "And if that ever happened I would fucking fling myself out the window of his office. Because - because I love you so much, I love this normal life so much - "

"Hey, hey, hey." Ryuji pulled him into a tight, soothing hug as Goro began to cry in earnest. They sat like that for a while, Ryuji steadily patting Goro on the back. "I know how you feel." Ryuji murmured. "I never thought that a man would ever love me, that I'd ever be stable living with another guy - but here we fuckin' are." 

"Who would have thought that we, Phantom Thieves, would grow up to be normies." Goro sniffed. 

Ryuji laughed loudly, and Goro instantly felt much, much better. "You ready for bed?" 

"Yeah." Goro nodded. They got up off the couch and cleaned up, throwing away pizza boxes and wiping off makeup and taking off work clothes. Goro was in bed by midnight, being held by a man he loved, in a really nice double bed. He smiled and let his eyes fall shut, and he woke up with his alarm in that same bed to a new, beautiful day.

**Author's Note:**

> and so concludes the series that was never meant to be a series. my kink is these traumatized kids living happy lives with ppl who love them


End file.
